Corroded Cage
by GeckoMoriaShadowLord
Summary: ZoSan. AU. Love is the most dangerous emotion to be felt and faced. Sanji Kou finds himself a victim of it and married to a man he despises. But he will fight for his freedom every step of the way.


**Dedication: **This is for **HappyMe_O**_**. **_Happy, I know we were going to write this collab-style but I really wanted to write something for you for Christmas which would leave you stunned and excited and I really couldn't pull a drabble out my ass which is worthy of your gift. Please accept this fic as a gift for you xD

_**Prologue**_

~0~

The organ playing, somewhere. It filled the ears of the churchgoers. It reverberated sorrowfully in their chests.

The priest's voice. Solemn and dedicated.

Everything was perfect, picturesque. It was a lovely scene; two hearts, two souls, two minds were being tied together, molded together, sealed together.

But still. The faint breeze _that something was wrong_ drifted on the air. Absurd, but impossible to shake.

The priest could also feel it, but his conscious mind did not detect what his spine was telling him. His words were calm, generous, slightly shaking.

"Do you, Rob Lucchi, take Sanji Kou as wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?"

The man¸ a pale individual with a strangely shaped beard, was coldly serious, eyes but glaring down at the veiled head before him, "I do."

"Do you, Sanji Kou. take Rob Lucchi as husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?"

A moment of silence. It lasted only a second or so. But it stretched out, agonizingly slow. Only a second or so, but the mere fact that there even was such a hesitance, however slight, was surprising and slightly disturbing to the majority of the folks gathered in the congregational pews of that little church. The priest looked up from his book, momentarily confused.

"_I do."_ It was whispered, barely audible. The head under the veil was drooped, and even the white gauze seemed to cry.

"I beg pardon miss?" the preacher, a kindly old man, with white wisps of hair clouding his head and a pair of brightly polished spectacles perched on the end of a thin and crooked nose, peered short-sightedly at the still, depressed figure, clothed all in white.

"I_ do_," now there was a slight petulance in the voice that emerged from the veil, and a vibrant undercurrent of anger that flowed just beneath the surface. The priest drew back in slight surprise at the sudden emotion, but being the good preacher he was, he kept his serene countenance clear and continued with the ceremony.

"Then you may kiss the bride," the priest concluded dutifully, and his heart swelled within his chest as it always did, the strange forebodings forgotten as he saw that kiss which was the most beautiful in a person's life, the most important, the most eternal. No matter how many times he witnessed it, he always felt a little teary-eyed.

The groom, a hard man who looked as if he'd kill you as soon as look at you, and with a set of eyes which seemed to have died and settled in his face; reached out and lifted the heavy snow white veil from the hidden face of his bride.

And the priest was a little surprised to see the bride's features; a little too blunt and masculine for her to be ever considered pretty, but fair enough that she was undeniably a handsome woman. But then they kissed to the tumultuous applause of the crowd and her face was forever swallowed up.

~0~

"Rob Lucchi's finally getting married." an elderly woman commented to her husband as they exited the church with the other attendees. "Personally, I thought no one would ever show up who can put up with that awful temper of his."

"Well, I guess they finally did. Who was the girl? I've never seen that particular face before," the old man scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"He said 'Sanji Koa','" his partner answered, "Never heard the name before either. It's not from around these parts. Maybe she's foreign?"

"Maybe he bought her from one of those brothels overseas?" the old man grunted, "She didn't seem very happy to be tying the note, did you notice?"

The old woman shushed him, and nervously glanced around, "Don't let your mouth run away from you, dear. Rob Lucchi-"

"-is a powerful man," the old man finished for her, "Yes, I know dear. Hurry, let's get out of here."

~0~

"Why the hell did you hesitate? You made me look like a fucking idiot!"

Sanji shut his eyes tight, before he even felt the wind of the incoming blow. He gritted his teeth, longing for a split second with all his might to rip the man apart, or at least try to.

He slammed on the ground, groaning as the reverberation wracked his body, tasting the flavor of nickel at the back of his throat. Feeling pathetic, knowing he wasn't, feeling it nevertheless.

_I could have done something, anything, to get out of this. To not end up here on the floor of this man's house. To not taste my own blood and do nothing about it. I could have done somethi-_

He was hauled up, roughly. And Lucchi stared distastefully at him, black dead eyes sending shivers through his spine. The hand tightened painfully at his windpipe and Sanji narrowed his eyes, glaring, doing all he could do to show this man that if times and places had been different, Sanji would have ripped his balls out and fed them to him. Or at least tried to.

"You can wipe that fucking grin off your fucking face _cunt_."

He didn't. And the hand around his throat tightened until Sanji felt the world begin to fade, to be conquered by bright grey spots dancing across his visions. But still he kept that scowl which was a smirk. And the moment Lucchi eased up on his throat, he murmured, voice raspy and thick, laced with blood, "How did that feel Rob? I just showed the whole fucking town that your new bride hates your _fucking guts." _

The claws scratched at his face, ripping open the skin of his cheeks, before he was viciously propelled back, his back slamming violently against a vanity and sending fresh woes coursing through his body. Sanji had one foot up before he stopped at the expression on Lucchi's face.

"One _movement_ and you I'll tear your little family apart. _One fucking movement."_

He forced his leg down, forced the ocean of wormwood from his heart.

And as soon as he did, Lucchi was in front of him, hand raised.

The flat crack of the slap was unimpressive, but the blood spurted from his nose. The golden wedding band indented itself heavily in the skin of his cheek and the stupid wedding dress he had been forced into bloodied instantly.

"You don't like the dress that much? Too white?" Lucchi spat, "Don't worry darling, I'll turn it crimson for you."

He glared back, and the pain was not enough.

"Oh, a little sore are we?" his broken nose was making his speech slurred and broken, clogged with misery and hate, "First time you got your ass owned in public? Or were you secretly happy that you finally got me?"

The face shoved up to his was bestial, lips peeled back and canines showing brutishly. The green cat's eyes sparkled vindictively. "I advise you to shut your pretty mouth Sanji Kou. You'll ruin that lipstick when I punch you in the fucking mouth.

Sanji grinned back, feeling the blood dribble over his lips and off his chin, "Honey, that's the only fucking way you'll be able to touch these lips."

The knuckles smashed across his mouth, breaking open the skin angrily. To Sanji, it seemed like thousands of hornets had converged onto his face and stung simultaneously. More, they had tunneled underneath his pores and attacked him mercilessly.

He sagged, vision fading.

"Got something equally smart to say?" The words reached him just as the hand closed tightly on his neck, making it hard to drag each breath in.

"yeah…." Sanji felt himself going and was glad, he'd rather not see what Lucchi had in store for their fucked up wedding night, "…let me think….oh yeah…fuck you punk."

The hand tightened cruelly and he passed out.

~0~

_**To be continued. **_


End file.
